Despite sunshine laws, Mississippi government often surrounded by secrecy

JACKSON -- A Hattiesburg man fights for access to information about how his son was killed during a law enforcement chase.

A Leakesville newspaper editor tries to report on disputes between county supervisors and trustees of a publicly owned hospital, only to find that decisions that should've been made in public meetings were, instead, hashed out in private.

Voters across the state who want to know the sources of campaign money look in vain for records that will give them full information about who is contributing to the political action committees that are, in turn, giving money to Mississippi candidates.

Open access to public meetings and public records is essential to government accountability, yet Mississippi's laws are full of exemptions that perpetuate a culture of secrecy.

Legislation is being filed this year to try to tighten some of the exemptions and to give people a better chance to see the workings of their local and state governments - the governments that taxpayers support with their hard-earned dollars.

"My inclination is always toward openness. I feel we have gotten better performance when there is total transparency in terms of how governmental entities function," said former Gov. William Winter, who was instrumental in pushing for the state's Open Meetings and Public Records laws a generation ago.

A national study gives Mississippi a failing grade for its government sunshine laws. In that, Mississippi is not alone: 38 states got an "F" in the 2007 study by the Better Government Association and the National Freedom of Information Coalition. The research is posted at www.nfoic.org.

"This national study shows that in the vast majority of states, citizens have little to no recourse when faced with unlawful denial of access under their state's FOI laws," said Charles N. Davis, executive director of the coalition based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

In Mississippi, law enforcement officials and economic developers say there's a legitimate need to keep some information a secret. Criminal investigations often depend on confidentiality and corporations don't want to give away their trade secrets as they try to find locations for their new factories.

"Often times, there are graphic explanations about what happened at the incident that I don't think the public benefits from knowing," said Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee. "Whether it's someone during a rape wrote something obscene on the victim's nude belly, or something else, there are often facts contained in the incident report that would be one of those things that could compromise the investigation."